Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Mental skills are critical to the development of a positive mind-set in the athlete in order to develop the ability to concentrate more, focus attention, manage arousal, develop self-esteem and thereby enhance self-confidence in competitive sport. This study was an exploratory study to investigate how well Zimbabwean inter-collegiate athletes were prepared mentally and how this was handled during their participation in inter-collegiate games. The study focused specifically on just one group of athletes, netballers.

No description available.

Fysisk aktivitet är en faktor för att uppnå en god hälsa för individen. Dock handlar inte allt om fysisk aktivitet, för att må bra och uppnå en god hälsa anses det vara gynnsamt att både kropp och psyke är i harmoni. Att öka sin mentala tuffhet genom mental färdighetsträning kan påverka människor positivt både inom den fysiska prestationen och i det vardagliga livet. Yrket som Personlig tränare (PT) handlar om välmående och att få människor att må bra i sin helhet. PT hjälper människor med den fysiska förmågan, denna studie avser att ta reda på hur PT arbetar med mental färdighetsträning. Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva om PT tillämpar mental färdighetsträning och hur de skapar förutsättningar för att hjälpa sina adepter att uppnå mental tuffhet. Metoden var utav kvalitativ ansats då en öppen enkät låg till grund för studien. Urvalet bestod utav 16 yrkessamma PT. I studien framkom det att de PT som deltagit i studien skapar förutsättningar att uppnå mental tuffhet till sina adepter, detta genom tillämpning av mental färdighetsträning. Deltagarna upplever att mental färdighetsträning har positiva effekter på sina adepter, genom att adepterna upplever kontakt i sina muskler, reducerad stressnivå, ökad motivation och ökad självkänsla. / Physical activity is a factor to achieve good health. Although to achieve good health it is considered favorable to achieve harmony between mind and body. Mental skills training can improve performance in physical training as well as the daily life. Mental skills training is a tool to increase mental toughness. Personal training (PT) as a profession is about helping people feel good as a whole. PT usually help people with different kinds of physical activity, but it’s also interesting to look at how they work with mental skills training. The purpose of this study was to describe how PT apply mental skills training and how they provide conditions for their adepts to achieve mental toughness. The method used in this study was of a qualitative approach. An open questionnaire was the basis of the study which consisted of 16 participants. The study found that the PT are trying to provide the conditions for their adept at achieving mental toughness through mental skills training. The participants experience that mental skills training has a positive effect on their adepts, since the adepts experience contact in their muscles, reduced stress levels, increased motivation and increased their self-esteem.

No description available.

Participants were 15 professional sailors, ranging in age from 23-49 years (M age = 35.9 years; SD = 7.4), who competed in the 2005/06 VOR. After receiving approval from the Temple University Institutional Review Board, the researcher recruited participants who were subsequently required to provide informed consent to participate in the study. Using a semi-structured interview format, face-to-face interviews were completed with three sailors in Miami, FL, and with nine sailors in Valencia, Spain (three interviews with individual participants, one interview with two participants, and a focus group with four participants). Three interviews were completed via telephone. All interviews were transcribed verbatim. Each transcript was then analysed through an inductive open coding process. Data analysis revealed nine major themes (Background, Skiffs on Steroids, Boat Breakdowns, Managing Self, Pressure, Tragedy, Extreme, Team, and Reflecting) with associated subthemes, and three dimensions (Resonance, Edgework, and Performance Capacities) with associated subdimensions. A framework for understanding the experiences of the sailors was conceived in the form of a model depicting the dimensions of resonance (a passion for adventure and the VOR in particular), edgework (a desire and ability to perform in high-risk, life threatening situations), and performance capacities (team, individual, and boat). The model suggests an interplay between the dimensions of edgework and resonance, against which is set the performance dimension. This study is the first to take a glimpse inside the experiences of professional ocean racing sailors who compete in fully crewed around-the-world races. Findings confirm the widely held belief that the VOR is an extreme and unique event in the world of sport. / Kinesiology

Research on the development of Mental Skills Training (MST) programmes in sport psychology has largely increased as sport has become more competitive. MST programmes have been seen to improve the performance of athletes. This particular research study focuses on the development of an anxiety and arousal control MST programme designed specifically for, and tailored exclusively to, the needs of four archers from the Rhodes Archery Club in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The development of the programme was guided by the Organisational Development Process model as the research methodology design. Data from two quantitative measures (CSAI-2 and Sport Grid-R), a focus group, and an individual interview were integrated with currently existing mental skills literature and theory to devise this particular MST programme. The results of the assessment phase showed that individual archers have different experiences in how anxiety and arousal affect their performances. The results also showed that archers have different zones in which they feel their performance is good. These zones depend on their subjective interpretations of anxiety and arousal. The results also showed that other factors that include personality differences, level of experience and level of expertise also influence how anxiety and arousal affect performance. The archers had previous exposure to MST programmes although they had not received systematic training in mental skills training. The programme was developed in the form of MST workshops that would run over a three week period. As part of the programme the archers would be given a mental skills manual to aid in the mental skills training. It is recommended in future that more research in MST programmes be done as a way of improving the performance of athletes in South Africa

Produto de uma pesquisa teórica e empírica, esta dissertação aborda um campo conceitual comum entre a área de projeto pertencente à arquitetura e ao design, a formação escolar básica e as tecnologias digitais de modelagem e fabricação. Tal temática pauta-se na contemporaneidade, na medida em que se inserem novos meios de apoio ao ensino e aprendizado na formação escolar básica. Desse modo, o computador até então utilizado como processador de texto e imagens, alia-se à modelagem, à fabricação digital e à comunicação em rede. Como abordado nessa dissertação, o termo \"design\" é empregado com distintos enfoques no campo da formação escolar básica, o primeiro deles de caráter mais vinculado ao campo das artes, enquanto o segundo insere-se no campo das tecnologias de fabricação e no estudo da cultura material da sociedade contemporânea. Tendo em vista o campo comum dessas ações permeando as áreas de projeto, formação básica escolar e tecnologias digitais, esta investigação considera a partir uma base teórica, um grupo de dezoito pontos de convergência que subsidiou os trabalhos de campo. Esses trabalhos foram estruturados a partir de quatro tipos de oficinas realizadas na periferia da cidade de Guarulhos, região metropolitana de São Paulo, organizadas em um ambiente de livre acesso e que foram detalhadas nesse trabalho. Essa formulação teórico-prática visa traçar considerações acerca do campo comum estudado em que, tecnologias digitais de modelagem e fabricação têm auxiliado no desenvolvimento de linguagens e habilidades mentais em um público inserido na formação escolar básica. Pretende-se assim avançar no debate sobre a formação do indivíduo na atualidade. / The product of a theoretical and empiric research, this paper discusses a common conceptual ground among the project area -which includes the architecture and the design-, basic education, and digital modelling and manufacturing technologies. Its subject is based on the contemporaneity, to the extent that it introduces new means of support for learning and teaching in basic education. In this way, the computer -to that moment used exclusively for text and image processing- allies with modelling, digital manufacturing, and network communication. As herein discussed, the word \"design\" is used with different meanings in the field of basic education, the first of which has a stronger relation with the field of arts, whereas the second one lies within the field of manufacturing technologies and the studies on the material culture of the contemporary society. Considering the common ground of said activities, which permeate the fields of design, basic education and digital technology, this research take into account a group of eighteen common points of agreement from a theoretical basis that subsided the field studies. Those studies were structured from four types of workshop held in the outskirts of Guarulhos, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, organized in a free-access environment, and which are herein detailed. This theoretical and practical formulation has as purpose to address the considerations resulting from the studied common ground, insofar as digital modelling and manufacturing technologies has helped the development of languages and mental skills of such a young audience still in basic education. The aim is to advance the debate on the formation of the individual nowadays.

Mental toughness is accepted to be an important component of sporting performance, especially so in the domain of cricket. It has been called many names, such as Big Match Temperament, bottle, and mettle and it is widely believed that it plays a role in how successful a cricketer may be, although very difficult to define and explain. James Loehr described it as one’s ability to consistently perform to the upper limit of your talent and skill and numerous researchers have since tried to define the construct based on more empirical research. This research project consists of three articles on mental toughness. The first focuses on the consideration of extra-personal influences on the development and implementation of mental toughness programmes. The second focuses on examining the psychometric properties of the paper-and-pencil versions of the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ) and the Psychological Performance Inventory-Alternative (PPI-A). The third examines the differences in the demographic characteristics of a sample of cricketers on the online versions of the SMTQ and the PPI-A. The results suggest that extra-personal influences are exceptionally important in the development and implementation of mental toughness programmes for school level cricketers, especially motivational climate and social support. While the PPI-A and the SMTQ displayed some promising psychometric properties in the current study, researchers should apply these mental toughness inventories with circumspection, taking into account questions regarding dimensionality, item formulation and variation in sample characteristics (e.g., age and sporting code), until more research can be conducted using these inventories with larger and more varied samples and the understanding of the mental toughness construct improves. The examination of the demographic differences on scores of the SMTQ and PPI-A revealed inconclusive results on age, sex, and ethnicity, while competitive level was the only distinguishing characteristic in which respondents at high levels produced higher mental toughness scores. The three studies comprising this “by articles” format PHD dissertation will be referred to as Article 1, Article 2, and Article 3 and can be found in Chapters, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. / Psychology / D.Phil. (Psychology)

Produto de uma pesquisa teórica e empírica, esta dissertação aborda um campo conceitual comum entre a área de projeto pertencente à arquitetura e ao design, a formação escolar básica e as tecnologias digitais de modelagem e fabricação. Tal temática pauta-se na contemporaneidade, na medida em que se inserem novos meios de apoio ao ensino e aprendizado na formação escolar básica. Desse modo, o computador até então utilizado como processador de texto e imagens, alia-se à modelagem, à fabricação digital e à comunicação em rede. Como abordado nessa dissertação, o termo \"design\" é empregado com distintos enfoques no campo da formação escolar básica, o primeiro deles de caráter mais vinculado ao campo das artes, enquanto o segundo insere-se no campo das tecnologias de fabricação e no estudo da cultura material da sociedade contemporânea. Tendo em vista o campo comum dessas ações permeando as áreas de projeto, formação básica escolar e tecnologias digitais, esta investigação considera a partir uma base teórica, um grupo de dezoito pontos de convergência que subsidiou os trabalhos de campo. Esses trabalhos foram estruturados a partir de quatro tipos de oficinas realizadas na periferia da cidade de Guarulhos, região metropolitana de São Paulo, organizadas em um ambiente de livre acesso e que foram detalhadas nesse trabalho. Essa formulação teórico-prática visa traçar considerações acerca do campo comum estudado em que, tecnologias digitais de modelagem e fabricação têm auxiliado no desenvolvimento de linguagens e habilidades mentais em um público inserido na formação escolar básica. Pretende-se assim avançar no debate sobre a formação do indivíduo na atualidade. / The product of a theoretical and empiric research, this paper discusses a common conceptual ground among the project area -which includes the architecture and the design-, basic education, and digital modelling and manufacturing technologies. Its subject is based on the contemporaneity, to the extent that it introduces new means of support for learning and teaching in basic education. In this way, the computer -to that moment used exclusively for text and image processing- allies with modelling, digital manufacturing, and network communication. As herein discussed, the word \"design\" is used with different meanings in the field of basic education, the first of which has a stronger relation with the field of arts, whereas the second one lies within the field of manufacturing technologies and the studies on the material culture of the contemporary society. Considering the common ground of said activities, which permeate the fields of design, basic education and digital technology, this research take into account a group of eighteen common points of agreement from a theoretical basis that subsided the field studies. Those studies were structured from four types of workshop held in the outskirts of Guarulhos, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, organized in a free-access environment, and which are herein detailed. This theoretical and practical formulation has as purpose to address the considerations resulting from the studied common ground, insofar as digital modelling and manufacturing technologies has helped the development of languages and mental skills of such a young audience still in basic education. The aim is to advance the debate on the formation of the individual nowadays.